


Long Live the Kids!

by YukinoTenshi (IAloneSurvive)



Series: Long Live the Kids! [1]
Category: Samurai Warriors
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Multi, Murder Mystery, modern day AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-17
Updated: 2015-11-13
Packaged: 2018-04-26 20:22:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5019145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAloneSurvive/pseuds/YukinoTenshi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a small town in the middle of no where everyone knows each other. In the local (and only) high school things are easy, there's a scuffle here and there but everything's normal. You know, the awkward asking each other to dances and what not. Things may be a little too easy perhaps...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Days, Some Mistakes

"It's cold, I'm going back to bed" Mitsunari grumbled. Everyone turned to look.  
"You...You've just walked through the school gates" Naoe reminded him. Mitsunari turned around to go right back home again but Sakon grabbed his hood and yanked him back. He almost fell, while screaming,  
"SAKON YOU FUCK BOY!"  
"Well now, that's just rude" Sakon sighed, he then let go of Mitsunari's hood and he really did fall over shouting that Sakon was a fuck boy.  
"It's funny because it's true" Otani snickered, Sakon glared at him, "hey don't look at me like that! Do you know how queer I am?"  
"Stop it you lot, jeez" said a voice. Otani going red as a beetroot might just give you a hint as to who it was.

"Takatora!" Naoe laughed, "good morning!"  
"Kanetsugu, please make a sentence out of the following words: up shut fuck please" Todo replied, this was why he wanted them to be quiet. Mornings were always a chore.  
"That sounds really wrong" Mitsunari snorted.  
"I fucking done with you lot, bye you lot and tomato face" Todo snapped, turning on his heel and marching off.  
"Jeez, killjoy" Naoe muttered to himself.  
"He noticed me" Otani whispered, giving a high pitched giggle.  
"Man Yoshitsugu your balls not dropped yet?"  
"Fuck you."

They all powered their way through chemistry and cried through English. Almost everyone slept through maths...except Mitsunari and Otani, but he doesn't count because he was sat next to Todo and was in great fear of getting a raging boner. Mitsunari though paid every bit of attention to what Hideyoushi, the maths teacher, was saying. He hung of every word and took down notes all the time. His work was always perfect and he'd won every prize given since Freshman year and was set to win this year's as well.

"Hideyoushi!" Called a psychotic voice. Oh great, the mad maths teacher who scared the living daylights out of everyone, Matsunaga Hisahide.  
"Yes, Hisahide?" Hideyoushi sighed, putting down his pen and opening the door for the school's spider. He dragged in a girl with very long red hair that was tied as high as she could have it but still reached her waist.  
"You can have her" Hisahide snapped and then walked out. Everyone stared at the girl who went as scarlet as her hair. Hideyoushi rolled his eyes,  
"He sent you in here because you're too good and it's annoying him?" The girl nodded and handed over her book.  
"Yep, perfect" Hideyoushi nodded, "well looks like you're in my class now. He better not do this any more, I only have one seat left. You can go sit over there, next to Mitsunari."

OH FUCKING EXCELLENT

Just what he needed, someone to bother him while he worked. Being good by Hisahide's standards was awful anyway so there was every bet she was dumb as hell. Her hair was going to annoy him so much...always getting in the way. Why couldn't she just cut it? What a fun year this was going to be.  
"Hi" she smiled as she sat down, moving her hair over to the other side, "I'll say now if my hair gets in your way just say."  
"I will, thanks" he muttered, tuning his ears to Hideyoushi's voice again. Unlike him her notes were brief and only took down the most important things rather than entire paragraphs. About ten minutes before the end Mitsunari thought he might take a peek at her book, see if she was any good. Every answer was perfect.

For a moment Hideyoushi went out to get a new book for Naoe and as usual chaos ensued. Mitsunari did his best to ignore it and worked through his notebook, recording the notes in much neater handwriting as he had finished all the work Hideyoushi could possibly give him. The girl was doing much the same and when she had finished writing them up in full, asking for a word once or twice, she went down to get something else out of her bag. However she didn't get that far and suddenly emitted a loud screech.  
"Get off me!" She yelled. It was one of the dumb seniors, Niwa Nagahide, who had purposefully stepped on her hair and wouldn't move.  
"Hey come on now" Mitsunari sighed, "don't be a bastard."  
"Why, what am I doing?" He asked, laughing. However his laughter was cut short when he suddenly fell to the floor, yelling in agony.  
"Clue don't touch my hair" the girl hissed. She grabbed her sketch book out of her bag and went on doing exactly what she had intended to do.

"Why is Nagahide on the floor?" Hideyoushi demanded when he came in.  
"He was stood on my hair on purpose" the girl answered, "he wouldn't get off." Hideyoushi gave a "hmm" and let that one slide - she was right to do what she did as far as he was concerned but how that would go down at home was a whole other matter.

The next thing on their schedule's was break and boy were they happy about it. As usual Mitsunari escaped outside and sat at one of the rotting benches, waiting for the others. Naoe had been kept back for some kind of discussion about something he was running for school and Otani had run off somewhere. Mitsunari gave a yawn and was going to put his feet up when he spotted the girl sat alone on the wall. Was he really going to do this? Really? Really? Oh well, what the hell.

He got up and trudged over to her.  
"You alright?" He asked. She was sat furiously brushing her hair and was almost in tears.  
"I'm fine" she mumbled, "this is nothing. It's just some mud."  
"How come your hair's so long then?" He asked, sitting on the lower part of the wall that jutted out.  
"I've just never cut it. My parents died when I was young and since then it's only ever been trimmed and tidied" She answered.  
"It's cool that you've kept it so long" he smiled, attempting to make friendly chit chat.  
"Thanks" she smiled, "you're really amazing at maths by the way, I'm kind of jealous."  
"You're not half bad yourself" he replied. She laughed and jumped down from the wall,  
"You know you left your bag over there right?"  
"Shit."

They went back to sit where Mitsunari had been and just talked."I never actually caught your name, what is it?" He asked.  
"Tenshi" she answered, "you're Mitsunari, right?"  
"That's me" he sighed, "dullest name around."  
"I quite like it" she smiled, "the characters are pretty." He laughed lightly,  
"Thanks I guess."

"Where are you from anyway? I've not seen you around before" Mitsunari asked, wondering where the hell everyone else was.  
"Oh, I'm from here. My Mum and Dad passed away when I was really little and my brothers moved to the closest city. My brother Keiji had a falling out with my eldest brother Ken and he moved back here and I asked to go with so Keiji became my legal guardian and all this legal stuff - sorry am I babbling?"  
"A little" he answered.  
"You aught to tell me" she laughed, "I can go on forever."

"Jesus christ he made her laugh" Sakon muttered, he and Naoe were hiding behind a wall, watching the two.  
"Why does he get her all to himself" Naoe grumbled, "she's adorable as hell."  
"Oh be quiet" Sakon hissed, "Mitsunari's never been out with anyone before, this might be his chance."  
"Yeah, his only one" Naoe muttered.  
"You turn into a real sour bastard sometimes don't you" Sakon hissed, "oh look, he's hitting on her."

Meanwhile everyone had also been questioning where the hell Otani was. To answer that question he was hidden in the toilets and was refusing to come out.  
"Come on tomato face" Todo hissed, banging on the door, "get out."  
"No" Otani replied.  
"Come on, it's just one person" Todo reassured him.  
"Takatora there are 2,500 people in this town. One person is far too many" Otani replied.  
"How are your parents with it?" Todo asked.  
"They're fine with it" Otani answered.  
"Right you're fine then. If my parents even so much as thought I was anything but straight I'd be out on the streets in about five seconds" Todo snapped, "now get out."

Otani apprehensively opened the door and peeped at Todo, who gave him a warm smile. Otani stepped out and Todo grabbed his scarf and tugged it down, out of the way. Otani looked mildly surprised and Todo smiled again, taking the other boy's hand and squeezing gently. He slowly leant forward and kissed Otani. It was hardly a quick kiss, Todo pulled gently on Otani's lip, softly sucking. He then moved his mouth to Otani's exposed neck and did the same, leaving a mark.  
"Think about that over art."

The group of 3rd years were split in two - half in art and half in music. Then they were split further in the art classes, they were either in Akechi Mitsuhide's class or in Kojiro Sasaki's. They were also mixed with the seniors so Mitsunari was quite happily seated across from Sakon to the far left of Mr Sasaki's desk. Kojiro Sasaki, unlike all the other teachers except the head, was the only person they called by his surname.  
"So," Sakon started, rumaging through his bag for a pencil, "where's that girl you were chatting up at break?"  
"Uwa?" Mitsunari...erm...replied might be the right word. Sakon gave a short snort of laughter,  
"The red head you were hitting on."  
"I was not hitting on her" Mitsunari snapped.  
"Why you lyin'?" Naoe yelled from the back.

Though Mitsunari never got to give his horribly sarcastic answer as not a second later Otani rushed in, making sure his scarf was in place and fidgeting with it constantly.  
"What's wrong with you?" Mitsunari asked as he sat down.  
"Nothing" Otani answered, playing about with his scarf all the more. Mitsunari glared at him and then turned to Mr Sasaki,  
"Sir can I work on Otani's table? Sakon's project is taking up too much room."  
"Of course" Mr Sasaki answered, his usual slightly creepy grin on his face. Mitsunari grabbed his things and spun round.

"Come on, tell me what happened" Mitsunari hissed. Otani glared at him but yanked down his scarf for a split second and then pulled it back up,  
"Was it?" Otani nodded.  
"You should ask them to the Christmas dance" he grinned.  
"His parents would kill him" Otani sighed.  
"Oh, Hitomi will cover for him. She just wants to stay away from home so she can make it look like she's going and stay at Osen's" Mitsunari reminded him.

Meanwhile in the music class Tenshi was awkwardly sat next to Todo Takatora. The teacher, Chosokabe Motochika, was...nice enough, just a bit weird. Takatora was a whole other level. He was nice, definitely, he had given her his notebook so she could copy down everything she'd missed but he was a little rude about it. He snapped a lot, though he didn't appear to want to be unkind. He especially seemed to hate the first years they were with in the class and was constantly doing his best to avoid them. Tenshi felt a little mean when he told her to do the same...though not paticularly after she'd been in the class for ten minutes.

"Right so , what I'm going to put you on, as you are clearly a well practised singer, is these 4 songs. You'll get them in no time. Down the corridor a little is the practice room. The CD backing and vocal should be labelled 12/4" Mr Chosokabe instructed.  
"Thanks sir" she smiled.  
"Alright, er, take your stuff, you'll probably be in there the whole period" Mr Chosokabe nodded to her. So Tenshi gathered up her things.  
"Thanks for the notes" she smiled, pushing the book back to Takatora. He gave a very, very, very small smile,  
"No problem."

Just as Tenshi had swung her bag over her shoulder one of the first years marched up to the table.  
"So gay boy who was it you were kissing in the toilets?" He demanded. Tenshi looked at Todo who had suddenly tensed up and gone completely immobile. His pencil stopped it's dance across the paper and his hand began to shake violently. The entire class had gone quiet and there was no longer a teacher there. Todo suddenly snapped, as did his pencil,  
"Listen here you little shit I literally could not give a flying fuck what your book says about people like me. No one likes you fuck off."

The whole class was stunned into a continued silence. It was broken by the first year tearing the papers Todo had been writing on and ripping it to shreds. Todo stared blankly ahead, his eyes unfocused, as the paper was then thrown at him. Tenshi found herself in complete shock - sure for the last two years she'd been at a high school in the city but no one had ever done that.  
"You...you just ripped up 5 weeks of work" Tenshi muttered, "who gave you the right to..." she couldn't even finish her sentence.  
"It's alright" Todo sighed, "guess I'll just start again."

Todo quietly gathered up the bits of paper and sighed when he sat back down. He stared blankly at them for a while, his broken pencil still lying across the table. Tenshi placed her hand in his and pulled gently,  
"Come with me." He looked up at her in confusion and the expression on his face was pitiful at best.  
"You can start again there. I never start learning a song until I know the music, it'll be quiet" Tenshi explained. Todo gave a small sigh and then pinned the papers together, picked up his things and followed her.

"Are you alright?" Tenshi asked when they got into the practice room. It was a small cramped room that smelled horribly musty.  
"Yeah, I'm fine" Todo answered, sitting at the desk, "I wouldn't open the window if I was you." Tenshi frowned at him and then saw the giant spider that had made it's home there and, with a yelp, decided to leave it.

Just as Tenshi had finished shuffling through the CDs Mr Chosokabe ripped the door open and demanded,  
"Where are you in here?!" Tenshi turned around and almost stuttered out a reply. Yet Todo held up the bits of paper,  
"Yukinaga again." Mr Chosokabe sighed and rubbed his forehead,  
"Alright then. Just this once. Todo just go to practical, you can start that another time."  
"Thanks sir" Todo sighed.  
"Are you sure you're alright?" Tenshi asked once more.  
"I'm fine, quit asking" Todo snapped.


	2. Hated Visitors

Tenshi was alone for her next lesson which was daunting enough. It was only made worse when she came in that a few of the boys wolf whistled at her to make a joke out of her.  
"You can come sit with us" a girl smiled, waving to her. Tenshi smiled and sat beside her, shuffling awkwardly.  
"I'm Osen and this is Hitoko" the girl smiled, introducing the other girl sat with her.  
"I'm Tenshi" Tenshi replied, still feeling a little awkward.  
"Don't mind them" Hitoko grinned, leaning across and patting Tenshi's arm, "they do it all the time, to all the girls." Tenshi gave a sigh. Which was followed a collective groan from the rest of the class as the door opened.

"Who's that..." Tenshi mumbled, as a short fat man with funny looking eyebrows and a very pale face waddled into the room.  
"That's Yoshimoto" Osen sighed, "he's our trip guidance, well when ever we don't get Ujiyasu." "He's a wimp" Hitoko grumbled.  
"Yeah, Ujiyasu has two lines" Osen muttered, "the first is "why did I agree to this job?!" and the other is "why did HE agree to this job?!" Tenshi giggled,  
"Well this sure sounds fun."

It wasn't as bad as the two other girls had made it out to be - though Yoshimoto's voice did irritate the hell out of her. Hitoko and Osen also promised that, while he complained occasionally, Ujiyasu was much less irritating. However it was as they were leaving that Tenshi caught wind of the second incident that involved the only two gay students - not that she knew who this one was or even that he was 'the other one.' 

As they went to leave everyone made sure to jostle one kid who was unfortunately in the middle row and unable to escape any of them. The final one to walk past full on tripped him up and then tried to 'help' him by pulling the guy's scarf, only to yank it off.   
"Oh, is that hickie from your boyfriend" the tyrant asked with a laugh, tossing the scarf across the room and making sure to step on it on the way out. Tenshi glared at their back and then rushed over to help the other boy up and then grabbed his scarf off the floor.  
"Thanks" he muttered as he put it back on, after having dusted it off a little and checked for any offending marks.

"It's not a problem" Tenshi smiled, picking her bag up and hanging it over her shoulder, "you know after being in a city school for so long, some of the kids here are surprisingly mean."  
"I wouldn't know" the boy replied, shrugging, "I've never been anywhere else."  
"You're lucky, this place is so small" Tenshi laughed, "I'm Tenshi by the way."  
"I'm Yoshitsugu, Otani Yoshitsugu" he replied.

"Hey! Where were you at break?!" Yelled a voice. Both of them turned to look to see Mitsunari glaring at Yoshitsugu, being followed by a familiar senior - and Tenshi's next door neighbour - Shima Sakon and the loud mouth from her first English lesson, Naoe Kanetsugu.  
"Oh I was..." Yoshitsugu trailed off, "it doesn't matter, lets just go outside."

"Oh so that's your girlfriend" Sakon laughed.  
"I talk to a girl for 10 minutes and suddenly she's my girlfriend what the hell is wrong with you Sakon?" Mitsunari demanded. Naoe was laughing already,  
"You've gone red Mitsunari."  
"Can we go?" Yoshitsugu asked.  
"Yes" Mitsunari snapped, turning on his heel and walking away.  
"You got anyone to sit with?" Sakon asked. Tenshi shook her head, "come with us then, we'll drop the jokes I promise."

Tenshi had a surprising amount of fun with them, she wasn't really sure what to expect but it certainly wasn't to be giggling away all the time.  
"Hey" called a voice. Everyone turned to look and were all quite surprised to see Takatora rushing over to them.  
"Have any of you got the music notes? That little shit had tipped his whole drink on mine" Takatora asked. Tenshi quickly delved into her bag and handed her book over,  
"It's alright, I copied them into my notepad."   
"You're a godsend, thank you" Takatora smiled as he took it. He then turned to Yoshitsugu,  
"Anyone done anything?"  
"Few kids tripped me and one stood on my scarf" he answered. Takatora gave a sigh,  
"I suppose it's my fault. Well, I have an essay to finish. Bye you lot, and tomato face."

The final two lessons they had were History and Geography. Tenshi loved both subjects almost equally, history just toping. The history teacher was a lovely young woman named Oichi. She was also the headmaster's sister and seemed to be a centre of a fued between the other history teacher and one of the geography teachers.  
"Is there anyone you know?" She asked, glancing round the classroom.  
"I know Sakon and Mitsunari" Tenshi answered.  
"That's perfect, I need a girl on their table" Oichi smiled as she began shuffling through a pile of multicoloured books. She then handed Tenshi two, both purple and one large and the other tiny."Big one is class and homework, little one is notes. The boys should be able to give you ones we've already taken but if you're ever stuck just stick your hand up and I'll come over and help."

History was rather enjoyable and Tenshi certainly had the boys staring. She didn't just copy their notes but extended them and filled more pages than they could even try. Even on top of that she got everything done and had Oichi staring in awe at her work.  
"You like history I suppose" Oichi laughed, "this is amazing." Tenshi went a bit red,  
"Yeah, it's my favourite." Oichi smiled,  
"I can see that" she nodded as she wrote something down in Tenshi's book, "you've got potential for Advanced Quals if you keep this up easy, I could probably enter you now actually."  
"Thank you" Tenshi replied, quite stunned.

"Yikes, and I thought you were good at maths" Mitsunari muttered to her.  
"You beat me any day" Tenshi replied. Oichi had not been able to find any more work to give her and as there were only ten minutes left had just let her read.  
"Samurai huh? Interesting" Sakon commented.  
"Best not to start talking to me about it, I babble" Tenshi smiled. Sakon gave a breathy laugh and whispered to Mitsunari,  
"She's nuts...it's excellent."

With three minutes to go and everyone packed up, all stood behind chairs chatting Tenshi finally felt that she might be able to get used to this. She'd made friends and already made at least one enemy. All of a sudden Mitsunari snagged her timetable out of her top pocket and flipped it open.  
"Hey!" She started.  
"Quiet, it's not like I won't give it back" Mitsunari snapped. Tenshi took to glaring at him until he handed it back,  
"You've got geography with Sakon, go with hi-" Mitsunari stopped mid-sentence.

"Is Mitsunari in here?" Asked a voice, everyone turned to see Motonari, one of the guidance teachers. Though really everyone called him Dad because he was just that great - except Takakage as Motonari was his actual Dad and he found it awkward. Mitsunari slowly raised his hand. He knew exactly why Motonari was here and he didn't want him to be. He followed the old man down to the school office and did his best not to groan when he saw who was stood there.

"Hey sweetie" they said.  
"Hey Mum" he muttered unhappily. He hated his Mum, she was all sweet and sugar but when he was younger she'd been an alcoholic and abused drugs and become the shittiest mother ever. She'd been violent, which, when Mitsunari was twelve, had led to his parents finally getting a divorce.  
"How's school?" She asked, smiling at him.  
"It's fine Mum" he answered, he was keeping his distance and hadn't taken off his bag. She laughed,  
"Any girls on the scene?"  
"No Mum" Mitsunari answered, almost rolling his eyes.

"Oh come on Mitsunari, don't be like this" she whined, frowning at him.  
"Mum I've already told you, Dad's told you, I don't want to see you any more and why have you come when you know I'm in school?" Mitsunari demanded.  
"You know why" she replied.  
"Oh what? Because Dad won't let you in the house. Screw you, I'm going back to my lesson" Mitsunari snapped in reply. He then turned on his heel and walked away, ignoring everything she said, even when she started shouting at him.

Instead of going back to lesson he instead went and sat in the toilets, taking off his bag and sinking against the wall. Why had she come back? He didn't really understand how she could not understand that he didn't want to see her. He knew she meant well but he hated her and that was that. He had his reasons, so why wouldn't she just leave him alone?  
“I'll never take her back” Mitsunari muttered to himself, “she's not my mother.”

“Why did Mitsunari look so upset when Motonari came to get him?” Tenshi asked as she followed Sakon to geography.  
“I think he'd rather I didn't tell you” Sakon sighed, “it's rather...rather personal to him, he doesn't like telling people himself.” Tenshi gave a shrug,  
“Okay then.” Sakon couldn't help but be surprised by this, usually people would call him rude or continue to pester for answers. Perhaps she knew what it was like to be badgered about things like this. Maybe something had happened to her. No, he was probably over thinking things.

They had Katsuie Shibata for Geography. He was a rather dull man, though he did occasionally get a laugh out of the class it was rare and highly prized. However that wasn't the main event, nor was studying the earthquakes that had happened again and again through history. About half way through the lesson, just as they were copying down a diagram on seismic activity, the other Geography teacher came in. She was a very prideful woman named Nou and who was also the wife of the headmaster. Surprisingly she was rather kind even though she did come off as some what...psychotic occasionally.  
“Sorry to bother you Katsuie” she started, leaning on the door frame, “but I was wondering if Sakon happened to know where Mitsunari went, he didn't turn up to lesson.” Sakon knew exactly where Mitsunari was.   
“I think he's gone home miss” he lied.

The rest of the lesson was fairly uneventful but Tenshi could see the look of worry on Sakon's face. Whatever was up with Mitsunari was clearly something serious.   
“Mind if I walk with you?” She asked when they finally got out of the lesson.   
“Err...well” he sighed and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, “are you sure you can't walk on your own, won't your brother be picking up his kid, can't you go meet him?”  
“Oh I see, never mind it's fine, I'll just go meet Keiji” Tenshi smiled, though before she left she added quickly,   
“I hope he's alright.”

As soon as she was out of the door Sakon legged it to the toilets, not wanting to leave Mitsunari too long, forty minutes was long enough.  
“Come on moron” Sakon snapped, grabbing Mitsunari's stuff when he found him, taking it and so forcing him to follow him. He didn't give it back until they were out of the door,  
“Why didn't you go back?” Sakon snapped as he power walked across the park towards the main street, Mitsunari having to run to keep up.  
“I didn't want to” Mitsunari snapped, “and that's the end of it.” Sakon turned around, standing completely still all of a sudden, he then grabbed Mitsunari by his jacket and shook him,  
“And let yourself relapse huh? All of that work for nothing?”

Mitsunari stared at Sakon for a moment before Sakon suddenly grabbed at his hands and tearing what he had in them off him.  
“Don't do that” he snapped, glaring at Sakon. Sakon shrugged,  
“Whatever” he then walked off, leaving Mitsunari where he stood.   
“Fuck you too” Mitsunari called to him before turning around and making his own way home.


	3. Home Is Where The Heart Is

“Mitsunari wait!” Shouted a voice. Mitsunari whirled around in shock, he wasn't expecting anyone to be there.  
“Is something the matter?” He called back, frowning at Tenshi as she rushed across the grass towards him. Before she could collide with him she came to an abrupt standstill,  
“There's someone following you” she whispered. Mitsunari rolled his eyes,  
“It's alright, it's just my bitch of a mother, I'll be fine.”  
“But she's following you” Tenshi hissed. Mitsunari laughed,  
“It's alright, I promise.”

Yet as he tried to leave Tenshi grabbed his hand,  
“Come up main street with me” she insisted. He glared at her and tried to pull his hand away,  
“No, it's fine. I appreciate you're worried but it's fine” Mitsunari snapped.  
“Please” she continued, not giving up.  
“No.”  
“Please.”  
“No.”  
“Please.”  
“No. Tenshi I swear” he stopped mid sentence, “no don't make that face! Don't get upset...ugh,okay fine.”

“Why did you drag me up here?” Mitsunari demanded, grabbing Tenshi's arm and pulling her back. She stepped side to side and looked at her dancing feet.  
“I...I...I thought she might leave you alone” Tenshi mumbled, her cheeks a little pink. Mitsunari gave a sigh and was about to say something when he spotted his mother.  
“Tenshi kiss me.”  
“What?!”  
“Kiss me. Look if you really don't want to it's fine” Mitsunari replied, yeah that was real smooth of you, idiot.  
“I'll hug you but I won't kiss you” Tenshi said, shaking her head. Mitsunari gave her a small smile and embarced her, resting his chin on her shoulder.  
“I thought she might go, I'm sorry that was so out of the blue” he whispered.  
“It's fine” Tenshi smiled as she pulled away, she even kissed him gently on the cheek.

“Listen I really need to get home” Mitsunari sighed, “I'll be fine, I promise.” Tenshi sighed and looked away,  
“Alright, if you say so.” Mitsunari gave her a little smile,  
“You don't need to worry about me.” Tenshi gave a gentle laugh,  
“That will only make me worry more. Thank you, by the way.”  
“For what?” Mitsunari asked, he couldn't think of anyhting she'd need to thank him for.  
“For coming to talk to me at break” she smiled in answer. He shook his head,  
“I was bored.” Tenshi sighed, so he was one of those.  
“I'll see you tomorrow then?” She replied. He nodded,  
“See you tomorrow.”

As Tenshi made her way home she could feel an uneasyness. Someone was following her, yet she dare not turn around. At first she tried to brush it off as old paranoia – it was normal to think someone was following you in the city even though it never happened. Yet something else told her she was definitely right. She could feel the terror that was sat at the bottom of her stomach slowly rise. Nausea seemed to consume her and it pressed it's hands against her throat.

Just as Tenshi got to her gate someone screamed at her from across the street,  
“YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY SON!” Tenshi whirlled around to see a woman. The same one who had been following Mitsunari. Tenshi paniced and opened the gate, slammed it behind her and rushed to the door.  
“Keiji let me in!” She shouted. She heard her brother come crashing down stairs and had to step back a little as he opened the door. He glared at her,  
“What's wrong with you?” Tenshi turned around again and nodded to Mitsunari's mother who was still watching her,  
“She's been following me.”

Keiji jumped down from the step up to the house and marched out the gate and bellowed,  
“YOU STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM MY SISTER, YOU GOT THAT?!” The woman bolted at Keiji's shout. He shook his head and came back, hugging his sister tightly,  
“It's alright doofus. Come on, Sou wants to see you.” Tenshi rushed into the house and picked up the four year old who threw his chubby little arms around her.  
“Mummy” he giggled, hugging her tightly. Tenshi hugged back just as tightly,  
“Hey little one.”

Mitsunari hardly said hello before he went upstairs. He didn't feel like seeing anyone at the minute, Masazumi was only going to bother him, as were his two sisters. His Dad was probably going to bug him anyway, so he was just waiting for that. He knew Sakon thought that he was going to be fine, he didn't know he hadn't taken all them off Mitsunari. He considered it for a moment as he tossed one of them into the air again and again. 

Someone opened the door and he quickly threw it under his bed.  
“You alright son?” His Dad asked, leaning on the door.  
“Mum followed me home” he sighed, “well most of the way. You don't happen to have Mei Keiji's phone number do you, I know you've worked together.” Masatsugu got his phone out and started flicking through his contacts,  
“Why do you need it?” He asked.   
“His little sister stopped Mum following me and I think she started following her, I want to see if she's alright” Mitsunari sighed. He'd felt bad about leaving Tenshi on her own.

“Here you go, it's ringing” Masatsugu said, handing Mitsunari his phone.  
“Thanks” Mitsunari said, lifting it to his ear as he waited while Masatsugu went back down stairs.  
“Hi, Masatsugu” said a voice that must have been Keiji.  
“It's...er...it's not Masatsugu, it's his son, Mitsunari” Mitsunari said quickly.  
“Oh, yeah, funny, Tenshi's just been talking about you” Keiji laughed, “oi, Tenshi get here! That boy from school's phoned.”  
“Alright Keiji, give me a minute” Tenshi yelled back. They were a loud family oh joy. 

“Hey, something up?” Tenshi asked when Keiji handed the phone to her.  
“No, I just wanted to see if you were alright” Mitsunari answered, “did she follow you?”  
“Yeah, she told me to stay away from you” Tenshi sighed, “but Keiji gave her a good bellowing at and she ran off.”  
“As long as she didn't do anything” Mitsunari smiled, “that's it really. See you tomorrow.”  
“See you” Tenshi replied, also smiling.


	4. Accidental Secrets Told

Tenshi woke early the next morning to her son gently nudging her awake.  
“Morning sweetie” she yawned, rubbing her eyes, “what's up?”  
“Uncle Keiji and Aunty Hatsu won't get up and Uncle Keiji told me to come and get you” Sou mumbled. Tenshi sighed and sat up, glancing at the clock. No wonder they weren't getting up, it was quarter to six.  
“Go wait down stairs honey, I'll be down in a minute” she yawned again. Sou bounced off the bed and raced down stairs.

Tenshi dragged herself up and pulled her dressing gown off the side of the door, pulling it on as she tripped her way down stairs.  
“What do you want for breakfsat?” She asked, still very much asleep as she turned on the TV.  
“Jammy toast please” Sou answered. So while he engrossed himself in the TV Tenshi went through the cupboards trying to find where her sister in law had put the bread and jam.

Just as she'd given the plate and a cup of milk to Sou the post arrived.  
“Early” she mumbled, “suppose postie has nothing else to do.” There were two small parcels for Hatsu, two bills for Keiji and three months worth of checks for her. The shithead who had raped her and got her landed with a kid had been caught and while he did time his family had to legally support financially. However upon moving she'd asked them to put it on hold until she sent her new address. There was even a letter from them, though the second she saw the words “he didn't mean it” she ripped it up and tossed it away. She didn't want to hear any of that, espeically not early in the morning when she was a bit cranky.

Despite often complaining about Sou's father Tenshi really loved her son. Though her brothers had all pushed her towards putting him up for adoption she simply couldn't. She'd grown up without parents, why should she inflict the same on him? Then, when he was older she'd find him another Dad who wasn't as much of a dick as his actual Dad.

Come half past six Hatsu trudged down.  
“Cover yourself up would you” Tenshi hissed, throwing her dressing gown at Hatsu, “I'm all for you wearing what you want but not when my four year old is here.”  
“Whatever” Hatsu grumbled, “that parcel for me?” Tenshi nodded,  
“Oh will you go cash these checks for me? Three months worth from them.”  
“We'll be rich” Hatsu laughed. Tenshi suddenly changed her mind,  
“Actually, I'll go do it after school, it's on my way home anyway.”  
“Suit yourself” Hatsu shrugged.  
“Right, I'm going to go and get dressed, I'll need to take Sou to school” Tenshi sighed.

She made her way upstairs and grabbed her things from her room before going to the bathroom. She stopped at her brother's room and knocked,  
“When you getting back from work Kege?”  
“About half three, why?” He yawned.  
“Think you or Hatsu could pick Sou up again, apparently I need to stay in school for something” Tenshi replied.  
“Will do” Keiji muttered.  
“Thanks” Tenshi smiled.

Just as Tenshi stepped out of the shower and began drying herself off her phone started ringing.  
“Takatora? What could he want at this time?” She mumbled to herself.  
“Hey, what's up?” She asked as she pulled her clothes on with one hand, hopping about.  
“I was wondering if you want to walk up to school with me is all” Takatora answered.  
“I was going to walk with Sakon but he leaves so early we can detour” Tenshi replied.  
“You go past the corner of main street?” Takatora asked.  
“Yeah, why?” Tenshi answered.  
“I'll meet you there then. See you” Takatora then hung up and Tenshi was free to use both hands to put her uniform on.

When she came down she cleaned up Sou's jam covered face and got him ready for school. She packed both their bags and then pocketed the checks.  
“Ten past seven, that should be alright” she mumbled, “come on Sou, I need to get you to school.” Sou jumped out of his seat and put his bag on, grabbing his coat off the side. Tenshi smiled at him and then turned,  
“See you Hatsu.”  
“See you Aunty Hatsu!” Sou grinned. Hatsu waved to them, she was doing her lipstick and was unable to answer.

The problem with Sou's school was that it was on the other side of town so they had to leave early. All of them had to be somewhere else when he could be dropped off at normal time so they had to get him there for the twenty to eight early birds club.  
“What do you think of here then?” Tenshi asked as they walked down the almost silent main street.  
“It's nice” Sou answered, “I like it but I wish you didn't have to go to school Mummy, it's weird.”  
“I know it is honey, but it's only for another two years and then it's all over” Tenshi sighed.  
“The teachers are mean though. We were talking about what our parents did yesterday; I said I didn't have a Dad because you told me Daddy's a mean man. Then they asked about you and I said you were in school. They thought I meant something called Uniberslity but I said no, they one in town and they all started talking and I don't like that.” Tenshi gave another sigh,  
“Just ignore them honey” was as good as it was going to get.

“Morning” Sakon yawned as he opened his door.  
“Morning” Tenshi replied, having been waiting outside for a couple of minutes.  
“Mitsunari told me what happened yesterday” Sakon said as they started walking, “I know he's not very good at showing it but he is grateful.” Tenshi smiled,  
“I could tell.”  
“So what do you think of school then?” Sakon asked, attempting to stretch while continuing to walk.  
“Eh, too early to tell really. Bothered by my kid's school though, apparently they started talking about him when they found out I'm still a high schooler. Bastards.” Tenshi asnwered. Sakon was the only one who knew that Sou was Tenshi's kid, whenever around people he'd always say he was Keiji's.  
“Doesn't surprise me” Sakon sighed, “older folk are like that.”

Todo didn't say morning, just rose his hand in greeting, he looked worn out as hell.  
“You alright?” Tenshi asked, “you look rough as.”  
“I stayed up all night writing music and playing it and ugh, I regret it” Takatora answered, “how good are you at writing lyrics?”  
“Eem...okay I guess” Tenshi answered.  
“That's good enough”Takatora shrugged, “can you still stay after school?”  
“Yeah” Tenshi nodded.

English was first and that was all fun and games. The teacher was a very short, young man named Hanbei who also doubled as the only French teacher. He was lovely, he let you sit where you wished, even letting you change seats if you wanted to. Tenshi chose to switch her seat and sat with Takatora and Naoe rather than on her own. They were studying a book that had reveresed the roles of everyone, both race and gender. One of the kids from one of the little villages stuck his hand up mid lesson and said,  
“Sir, d'you know what I noticed since we started reading this book?”  
“What have you noticed Bitchu?” Hanbei sighed, leaning on his desk.  
“Everyone in my village is a racist and a sexist.” Hanbei allowed himself a small chuckle.  
“That's a bit of a generalisation but on with the story.”

Maths was just more equations and Tenshi noticed a lack of Nagahide. She must have kicked him really hard. One again she and Mitsunari finished very quickly and had neatened up their notes with a full fifteen minutes to spare. Hideyousi set them on helping others and it came to her attention, as she went across the room to help someone, that Takatora and Otani were holding hands under the table.

“That was really cute you two” she giggled, nudging Takatora gently. He went a bit red and nudged her back as they walked down the corridor,  
“Oh be quiet.” They went and sat at the usual bench and spent the entire break there, not moving until the bell had gone.

Takatora sat with his arms around Otani's waist, resting his head on his shoulder, occasionally kissing him gently. They were all asking each other questions.  
“Alright, alright. Who here's still a virgin, you still count if you've ever been forced” Sakon asked. Everyone raised their hand except Sakon and Naoe. Everyone stared at Naoe, who burst out laughing, eventually getting to the point where he was crying.  
“No but who actually has be – oh never mind” Mitsunari started and never finished. He could see Tenshi getting uncomfortable and that answered his question. He wasn't sure what made him do it but he reached across the table and took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Next was German, which was with the other English teacher, Kanbei. He was a very tall man with greyish skin and greying hair. His room was almost as grey as he was and no one seemed to actually want to be there – least of all Kanbei himself. Still he wasn't that bad of a teacher and Tenshi did her best to excuse him constantly picking on her, he was probably just testing her. Lucky for her she was sat right behind Mitsunari and right in front of Otani and they were both really good so if she got really stuck she could just ask them.

They had lunch next and Mitsunari took Tenshi aside once the others had walked off.  
“Sorry, about what I said at break” he sighed. Tenshi shook her head,  
“it's alright, you didn't know. Anyway, it's enough that you tried to comfort me, most people laugh and tell me I probably deserved it.”  
“Who ever said that to you needs their head checked” Mitsunari commented, shaking his head. Tenshi gave a little laugh,  
“I'm glad you think so.”


End file.
